The present invention relates to vacuum or pressed molded fiber products that may be formed into decorative backgrounds, figurines, and toys that may be placed in a birdcage or other small animal cage to provide a more stimulating environment for the animal while making the cage more attractive and interesting to the pet owner.
Many household pets, such as birds, hamsters, gerbils, mice, and others, live in a cage of one sort or another. Such animals must be caged, not only to prevent the animal from taking flight, but also to protect the animal from domestic predators such as the family cat. Most household pet cages are exposed on all sides so that the animal is viewed from many different angles. While such visibility and openness is conducive to the pet owner""s enjoyment of the animal, it can be very detrimental to the animal itself, especially for animals that are naturally prey. Most prey animals""natural instinct is to fly or take cover when danger such as a cat, dog, new person or a child that walks by a cage too fast is near. Unfortunately, these options are not available to an animal living in an exposed cage. This constant exposure to what most animals would consider a perilous situation can be very stressful on a small pet. In birds, this can often be a cause of feather picking and sometimes biting.
Another detriment to the confined living conditions of household pets is the lack of both physical and mental stimulation. Living in the wild provides most animals with sufficient stimuli to maintain their mental and physical edge. In the daily routine of a house pet, however, most natural sources stimulation are removed, and the tendencies toward boredom and lethargy easily occur. Therefore, the caring pet owner, in addition to providing some form of refuge within the animal""s cage, will also attempt to provide the pet with mental and physical stimuli. Pet mice, for example, are often provided with an exercise wheel to run on for both pleasure and aerobic exercise.
Unfortunately, it is often more difficult to provide adequate mental and physical stimuli for birds. Most birdcages are generally too small for full-fledged flight, and birds can not use exercise wheels. However, pecking, chewing, and tearing at objects is an instinctual activity that provides both mental and physical stimulation for caged birds, and is an activity which can be safely carried out in the birdcage. Thus, providing various objects within a bird""s cage that encourage pecking, chewing and tearing will go a long way in improving both the physical and emotional well being of the bird.
A difficulty in providing a suitable toy is providing an object that will attract the bird""s attention and induce beak activity. Another consideration is the hardness of the object provided. The pecking toy must be soft enough that the bird will not damage its beak, yet hard enough to offer sufficient resistance to make the experience both challenging and rewarding.
The same type of objects that are well suited for birds to chew will be well suited for other small pets as well. Rodents have an instinctual need to chew. Thus, toys placed within a mouse or gerbil cage expressly for this purpose will fulfill this natural desire.
Many animal toys are available for providing stimulus to caged animals. U.S. Pat. No. 1,791,175, for example, is representative of such toys. There, birdseed is compressed into a solid mass and fashioned into an object such as a bell. The compressed mass may further include a toy such as an actual bell suspended therefrom.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,290 provides a nesting facility for parakeets. The nesting facility comprises a hard cylindrical shell surrounding a relatively soft nesting material. By pecking at the soft inner material the parakeet may partially hollow out the cylindrical shell to form a nest.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,438 discloses a food blanket for animals such as hamsters and gerbils. A pad comprising multiple layers of synthetic material is provided having pet food dispersed between the various layers. The animal is enticed to forage through the pad in order to obtain the food hidden therein.
Yet another bird toy is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,345. There, various elements are joined on a string or chain suspended from the top of a birdcage. The various elements comprising the toy are wood, a bell, rawhide, hemp, beads, leather and plastic.
While the prior art contains numerous examples of toys for caged house pets, the present invention provides a unique combination of aesthetic qualities pleasing to both the pet owner and the occupant of the cage along with the utilitarian function of providing a peckable or chewable object which may be safely consumed by a small animal.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide pet cage scenery and toys adapted to be placed within a small animal""s cage in order to provide a more attractive, stimulating environment for the animal.
Another object of the invention is to provide pet cage scenery and toys that may be safely consumed by the playing pet.
A further object of the invention is to provide pet cage scenery and toys which the pet pecks chews and tears, thereby providing both mental and physical stimulation for the animal.
A still further object of the invention is to provide pet cage scenery which offer a degree of cover such that the animal may feel more secure and protected within its cage.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide pet cage scenery and toys which are relatively inexpensive such that the toys may be readily replaced after the pet has pecked or gnawed through a significant portion of the toy.
All of these objects, as well as others which will become apparent upon reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, are met by the pet toys formed of molded paper pulp herein disclosed.
Among the myriad advantages of the vacuum molded fiber or paper pulp pet toys of the present invention, is that the paper pulp pet toys may be safely pecked at, chewed upon, or otherwise eviscerated and consumed by a small house pet without serious detriment to the animal. Further, the consistency of the molded fiber toys may be controlled so as to enhance the pecking or gnawing experience, and may be specifically formulated to fit the needs of a particular species.
In a first embodiment, three-dimensional scenic backgrounds are provided. Such backgrounds are formed as a single molded sheet having several three-dimensional objects protruding from the surface of the sheet. Such objects can be fashioned as trees, rocks, or other objects which might be attractive to the species whose cage the background is to adorn. The three-dimensional background may be printed with a brightly colored scene corresponding to the three-dimensional objects protruding from the molded sheet. When placed in an animal""s cage the molded sheet provides a degree of cover on at least one side of the cage, though many veterinarians recommend covering two sides of the cage in this manner. Individual molded sheets may be formed with interlocking edges such that multiple sheets may be combined to form larger backgrounds. This allows the product to work well with cages of larger size. Seeds, or other food, may be molded into the background in order to entice an animal to peck at or chew on the background, thereby also providing the animal with opportunities for exploration and nutrition.
In an alternate embodiment, paper fiber may be vacuum molded into figurines which may be placed in an animal""s cage. In this embodiment, the paper fibers may be molded into brightly colored figures representing cats, hands or other objects that the pet and owner find amusing. As with the first embodiment, seeds or other food may be embedded within the figurine to stimulate more activity on the part of the animal.
In yet another embodiment, the molded fiber or paper pulp toys may be formed as hollow boxes in which food or treats may be hidden, somewhat like pixc3x1atas. In this embodiment the animal will be encouraged to peck or chew its way through the paper pulp to gain access to the food inside. The individual boxes may be adorned with fun faces that enhance the dxc3xa9cor of the cage. Several such xe2x80x9cpet pixc3x1atasxe2x80x9d may be mounted on a support rod or string and suspended from the top of the cage, a configuration especially well adapted for birdcages.